Detective Comics #881

[DC Comics, 8.7]

Jeff Stolarcyk:Now this is the way you end a run. Scott Snyder is one of those authors who is honestly just killing it on everything he touches and ‘Tec is no exception. This issue, and the whole run preceding it, really, is brutal and grim and phyrric. Snyder and his always-amazing art team give us the perfect ‘ultimate villain’ for Dick Grayson as Batman, give Barbara Gordon some badass moments and skillfully close the book on this era of Detective Comics before it starts over at #1.
[9]

Jason Urbanciz:
Scott Snyder, Jock & Francesco Francavilla’s year-long Black Mirror story comes to an end with an amazing closing. Batman and Jim Gordon race to track down Cordon’s psychopathic son who has taken his half-sister Barbara prisoner, planning to kill her. Snyder and company bring to a close what has been a fantastic story-line, and along with it, Dick Grayson’s time as Batman. No small part of the success of the storyline is the artists, Jock and Francavilla. Though their art style’s don’t seem to mesh well, but by generally sticking them to different character’s POV’s, it flows surprisingly well. Looking forward to giving the whole story a re-read.
[8]

Chris Walsh:
Snyder’s Dectective run with Jock has been so good: creepy and interesting, with a good dose of Bat-continuity, but not so much as to cause Morrison-level confusion. This final issue of the storyline ties things up well. I appreciated that while the set Babs up as a bot of a damsel in distress, she never came across as weak (stab!) and I mostly bought that the situation she was put in by James was something she would have a tough time totally handling by herself, as capable as she is, so Dick’s last-second intervention didn’t phase me. I liked that James could see the difference in Batman and why he knew who it was under the mask — and I also liked the nod to the idea that anyone who was very bright and knew Bruce Wayne and friends well shouldn’t have that hard a time figuring out some secret identities. This is always one of the biggest suspension of disbelief issues in superhero comics, so I often enjoy when a character sees it. Good work from the team on this book, and I can’t wait to see where Snyder goes with the main Batman book in the relaunch.
[9]